PIRATES BEAT SOUND TIGERS 5-4 IN OVERTIME

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (April 16, 2013) – Pirates forwards Brett Hextall and Lucas Lessio scored in the final 2:43 of regulation to force overtime, and Chris Brown scored his second goal of the game 26 seconds into extra session as Portland came back to beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-4 at Webster Bank Arena on Tuesday night. Portland improves to 39-29-3-2 overall. The Sound Tigers earn a point with the overtime loss as their record moves to 31-30-7-5.

Matt Donovan’s 14th goal of the season with 4:05 left in regulation gave the Sound Tigers a 4-2 lead. However, Hextall fired a shot from the slot past Rick DiPietro with 2:43 remaining to cut the Sound Tigers lead in half, and Lessio found the rebound from Brown’s shot at the right half-wall with 58.9 left in regulation to tie the score at four.

26 seconds into the extra session, Brown capitalized on a turnover in the Bridgeport zone, gathered the puck in the slot and shot over DiPietro’s left shoulder to stun the Sound Tigers and give the Pirates the extra point.

Brown’s first goal of the night gave Portland the lead with a power play tally at 9:23 of the first period, but the Sound Tigers answered when Ty Wishart fired a shot from the right slot off of Pirates defenseman Mathieu Brodeur past goaltender Mark Visentin to tie the score at one with 1:58 left in the opening period.

David Ullstrom gave the Sound Tigers the lead just 52 seconds into the middle frame. Ullstrom carried the puck through the left side of the neutral zone, cut to the net and had the rebound of his shot bounce off of his chest and past Visentin for his ninth goal of the year.

Mark Louis evened the game for Portland 2:47 into the third period, firing a shot from the right half-wall off of DiPietro’s glove and over the goal line for his first goal of the season.

Nino Niederreiter gave the Sound Tigers a 3-2 lead at 6:04 of the final frame, sending the rebound from Donovan’s shot in for his team-leading 28th goal of the season, before Donovan gave the Sound Tigers a two-goal lead and Portland mounted its comeback.

The Sound Tigers return to action this Friday for their final road game of the regular season when they travel to Portland to face the Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center at 7:00 p.m.

NOTES: Tonight’s game marked just the third time this season the Sound Tigers had lost a game at home when leading after two periods (12-0-2-1) … Nathan McIver now has 285 penalty minutes, 10 shy of the Sound Tigers single-season record set by Eric Godard in 2004-05 … The Sound Tigers are five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with three games to play … The Pirates were 1-for-4 on the power play; The Sound Tigers were 0-for-3.